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2019 in LGBT rights
Presidency * 12.04.19 - In two straight years, the Trump Administration announced its plans to tighten regulations for food stamp access under the government's SNAP program, affecting about 755,000 Americans -- including the LGBTQ community. * 12.01.19 - For a third consecutive year, President Trump omits any mention of the LGBTQ community during his presidential proclamation recognizing December 1st as World AIDS Day. * 11.01.19 - The Trump Administration announced they are allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to use "religious beliefs" as an excuse to deny placement of children into homes of LGBTQ couples -- simply for being LGBTQ. * 10.11.19 - The Trump Administration announced its support of allowing faith-based schools to use religion as a so-called "right to discriminate" against LGBTQ teachers and staff and removing pro-LGBTQ curriculum in classrooms. * 10.01.19 - CNN reports that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent a letter to members of the Ames City Council asking the city remove pro-LGBTQ themed crosswalks in the community, citing so-called "federal traffic control standards." * 09.27.19 - The Trump Administration pens a "statement of interest" in support of granting the Archdiocese the ability to discriminate or even fire a person from their job because they are LGBTQ. * 09.20.19 - The Department of Education removes "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as terms to track bullying data for the agency, inserting "sex stereotyping" as a protected class instead. This eliminates any anti-LGBTQ bullying tracking data from the agency. * 09.19.19 - While touring San Francisco's HUD office, the Trump Administration made derogatory remarks against transgender, non-binary, and gendernonconforming Americans, prompting some to leave the political event in protest. * 08.23.19 - Following accused sex offender Roy Moore's lead, the Trump Administration submits an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans. * 08.16.19 - The Trump Administration files a court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the nation's highest court to block transgender Americans from having nationwide workplace protections. * 08.14.19 - The Trump Administration revealed they plan to grant federal contractors the ability to use "religious exemptions" as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans at the workplace. * 08.14.19 - The Trump Administration urged the Equal Employment Oppportunity Commission (EEOC) to reverse their Obama-era policy of providing workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans. The request comes weeks before oral arguments begin at the U.S. Supreme Court on October 8. * 08.09.19 - President Trump took to Twitter to attack Fox News's Shepard Smith, an openly LGBTQ news anchor for the cable news station. * 07.31.19 - President Trump took to Twitter to attack esteemed journalist and openly LGBTQ American, Don Lemon. * 07.25.19 - A Trump Administration official informs U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) that the government is separating families with parents who have HIV and AIDS, citing it as a communicable disease. However, the Administration admits they are not separating families who have other communicable diseases, such as the flu -- further stigmatizing the HIV and AIDS epidemic. * 07.08.19 - The Trump Administration's State Department creates a "Commission on Unalienable Rights" aimed at providing "an informed review of the role of human rights in American foreign policy." However, seven of the appointees have disturbing anti-LGBTQ records, putting acceptance for the global LGBTQ community at risk. * 06.28.19 - President Donald Trump used a press conference at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan to provide praise for Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, an anti-LGBTQ politician who has targeted LGBTQ people in his nation since the day he took office. * 06.24.19 - A report by E&E News found the Trump Administration went to great lengths to prevent the Pride flag from flying on a flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument, because the monument is federal land. Instead, the Trump Administration donated only the flagpole to the State of New York so the Pride flag can still fly. * 06.12.19 - After using the Pulse shooting as a campaign move in 2016, President Donald Trump failed to recognize the third anniversary of the horrific shooting at Orlando's Pulse Nightclub, which killed 49 LGBTQ people. * 06.07.19 - The Trump Administration denies all U.S. Embassy buildings from flying the historic LGBTQ Pride Flag on embassy flagpoles in honor of June being National LGBTQ Pride Month. * 06.05.19 - The Trump Administration announced they would cut federal funding for an HIV and AIDS research program being conducted by the University of California. * 06.05.19 - During his visit to the United Kingdom, President Trump continued to use discredited information about transgender Americans -- including categorizing trans people as drug users -- as a means to justify his ban on allowing transgender Americans from openly serving in the country's armed forces. * 05.24.19 - The Trump Administration announced a new policy stating transgender Americans would not be guaranteed health care protections under the Affordable Care Act, potentially harming 1.5 million trans Americans. * 05.24.19 - The Trump Administration announced plans to begin implementing a new policy which would allow adoption agencies to deny LGBTQ couples the ability to adopt based on so-called "religious exemptions." * 05.22.19 - The Trump Administration announced plans to rescind Obama-era policy which asked homeless shelters receiving federal dollars to grant transgender Americans the ability to use facilities according to their gender identity. * 05.17.19 - NewNowNext releases report highlighting the anti-LGBTQ record on media mogul Conrad Black, a convicted felon who was pardoned by President Donald Trump this week. * 05.13.19 - President Trump declares his opposition to the Equality Act, a direct flip flop from his previous stance on the issue more than a decade ago. * 05.02.19 - The Trump Administraiton, via the Department of Health and Human Services, issued a new rule allowing doctors and physicans the opportunity to deny Americans health care services based off their so-called religious beliefs, including seeking a "religious exemption" to deny life-saving health care for LGBTQ Americans. * 04.17.19 - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the agency would no longer be collecting data on LGBTQ youth in foster care programs. * 04.12.19 - President Trump and his administration implement its ban barring transgender Americans from openly serving in the country's armed services. * 04.10.19 - During a House Education Committee hearing, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos acknowledged that the administration's choice to rescind the Obama-era bathroom guidance -- which added protections for transgender students -- exposed trans students to additional harassment and discrimination in schools across the nation. * 04.05.19 - President Trump congratulates election of Brian Hagedorn, an anti-LGBTQ activist who wants to ban LGBTQ children from schools and believes in discredited attacks on LGBTQ Americans. * 04.04.19 - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson refused to reinstate housing protection guidelines that would prevent LGBTQ Americans from experiencing discrimination while attaining a home, which include access to homeless shelters. * 03.27.19 - Education Secretary Betsy DeVos refused to say on the record whether or not she opposed discrimination against LGBTQ people at schools during a House subcommittee hearing on education appropriations. * 03.25.19 - Trump Administration officials within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) were accused of performing abuse - including harassment and denying health care services - to more than 12 immigrants who identify as LGBTQ. * 03.12.19 - In a late night decision, the Trump Administration announces plans to implement its ban on transgender service members from openly serving in the country's armed forces according to their gender identity, impacting more than 13,000 service members currently who are enlisted. * 03.11.19 - In its Fiscal Year Budget for 2020, the Trump Administration announced new plans to cut $250 million from the Global Fund, slash $1.5 billion from PEPFAR, and “limit future spending” on Medicaid – three components in the ongoing fight against HIV and AIDS. * 02.27.19 - During a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on the administration’s ban on transgender services members from serving openly in the armed forces, Trump Administration officials used derogatory phrases such as “a transgender,” but they also called gender-confirmation surgery a “disqualifying surgery,” comparing it to having cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. * 02.08.19 - One day after defending a Michigan adoption agency during the National Prayer Breakfast, the Trump Administration confirms they intended to grant faith-based adoption agencies federal funds in its upcoming 2020 White House Budget. These faith-based adoption agencies actively use "religious exemptions" as an excuse to deny LGBTQ families the ability to adopt a child. * 02.07.19 - At the annual National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump praised Second Lady Karen Pence for teaching at an anti-LGBTQ school and defended a Michigan adoption agency for refusing to serve an LGBTQ family based on so-called "religious exemptions." * 01.28.19 - President Trump meets with Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and anti-LGBTQ group Groundswell at the White House. According to news reports, Ms. Thomas led a meeting with President Trump at the White House where participants denounced transgender Americans and claimed the historic, nationwide marriage equality ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court was “harming the fabric of the United States.” The Supreme Court is on the verge of deciding whether to take up a case regarding Trump's ban on allowing transgender service members from serving in the nation's armed forces. * 01.23.19 - The Trump Administration approved a waiver request by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, which could give faith-based adoption agencies the ability to deny LGBTQ couples adoption rights based on so-called "religious exemptions" -- all while using government tax dollars. * 01.11.19 - More than 13,000 federal workers identifying as LGBTQ do not receive a paycheck as President Trump's government shutdown becomes the longest shut down in U.S. history. * 01.03.19 - In a leaked memo by the Justice Department, the Trump Administration considers dissolving the "disparate impact" regulation, which grants marginalized communities (including LGBTQ Americans) legal protections from unintended discrimination in housing, education, and other ways of life. * 01.01.19 - NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine invites Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Roscosmos, to visit the United States. Rogozin, a politician, is vehemently anti-LGBTQ and even compared the community to ISIS. * 12.21.18 - The Department of Justice issued a "Statement of Interest" on a pending case involving the University of Iowa and an anti-LGBTQ student organization. The DOJ sided with the student group that indirectly bars an LGBTQ person from joining their organization. This indirect discrimination is known as a "disparate impact" form of discrimination. * 12.20.18 - The Trump Administration tightens its regulations on access to food stamps, affecting about the 1 in 4 LGBTQ adults who apply for the SNAP program. * 12.19.18 - The Trump Administration discharges two service members in the Air Force after disclosing their HIV-positive status to the Department of Defense. * 12.09.18 - The Trump Administration quietly shuts down a HIV research facility in Montana after the administration objected to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its scientists using fetal tissue as a part of its research to find a cure for HIV and AIDS. * 11.30.18 - The Trump Administration signs a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico that makes it clear the United States doesn’t have to proactively combat anti-LGBTQ discrimination in order to adhere to the agreement. * 11.23.18 - The Trump Administration asks the United States Supreme Court to circumvent federal appeals courts and issue a ruling on transgender Americans’ right to serve in the military. * 10.25.18 - In an ongoing effort on the part of the Trump Administration to replace "gender" with a biological-essentialist definition of "sex", U.S. officials at the United Nations are seeking to replace mentions of "gender", e.g. "gender-based violence", with alternative terminology, like "violence against women," erasing all references to gender identity and the issues relating to trans and gender non-conforming people. * 10.24.18 - The Department of Justice writes in a brief to the Supreme Court that it is legal to discriminate against transgender employees based on their gender identity, saying that banning sex discrimination under Title VII in the workplace does not extend to transgender workers. * 10.21.18 - The Department of Health and Human Services proposes in a new memo to change the legal definition of sex under Title IX, requiring individuals to identify according to their gender assigned at birth. This change in legal definition would remove nondiscrimination protections for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals. * 10.01.18 - The Trump Administration's State Department announces a new policy that the same-sex, unmarried partners of United Nations employees will not be granted visas to stay in the U.S., effective immediately. In doing so, diplomats in same-sex partnerships who come from countries where same-sex marriage is illegal will either be forced to marry in the U.S. and risk repercussions, including threats, harassment, and even incarceration back home; quit their jobs; or separate for the sake of one partner's career. * 7.30.18 - President Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces his new 'Religious Liberty' Task Force at the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Summit. As stated by Sessions, the group’s purpose is to ensure that the Justice Department upholds the administration’s guidance for religious exemptions, which he released in October. * 7.9.18 - President Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court seat made vacant by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh has an extremely conservative record and has the support of Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council (FRC). * 5.11.18 - The Trump Administration rolls back protections for incarcerated transgender people that were intended to mitigate their exposure to sexual assault and abuse, allowing the Bureau of Prisons to “use biological sex as the initial determination for designation” when placing trans people for housing, screening, and programs and services. * 5.3.18 - President Trump signs an executive order to create a new "White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative” that will be tasked with working on so-called “religious liberty” issues across federal agencies. * 4.18.18 - Reporting reveals that President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief gave a sizable grant to the anti-LGBTQ group Focus on the Family Africa on Sept. 18, 2017. * 4.10.18 - Reporting reveals that the White House is seeking to roll back vital data collection on LGBTQ youth by raising the minimum age that LGBTQ people can be asked questions about their sexual orientation and gender identity in the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey. * 3.23.18 - Reporting in Slate reveals that the Trump Administration worked closely with Tony Perkins, head of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council to draft their latest policy to implement Trump's ban transgender soldiers from openly serving in any capacity within the United States armed forces. * 3.23.18 - President Trump announces a reworked attempt to ban all transgender people from serving in the military in response to the implementation of his original policy being frozen by four different federal courts who declared it likely to be unconstitutional. * 3.20.18 - The Department of Housing and Urban Development defends the Trump Administration's decision to remove guidelines from its website intended to prevent anti-LGBTQ discrimination in homeless shelters by arguing that transgender women accessing shelters make people “not comfortable." * 3.20.18 - The Department of Education once again states that it is the Trump Administration's position to refuse to protect transgender students denied access to bathrooms and lockers based on their gender identity, even when faced with court rulings reaffirming that transgender students are protected under Title IX. * 3.13.18 - President Trump fires Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and announces plans to nominate anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim politician Mike Pompeo as his replacement. * 3.8.18 - President Trump hosts Brent Bozell, the anti-LGBTQ founder of the fringe right-wing group Media Resource Center, at a White House roundtable. * 3.5.18 - The Department Housing and Urban Development Secretary moved to change its official mission statement by removing promises of inclusive and discrimination-free communities. * 2.28.18 - Following Billy Graham's death, Trump overlooks his anti-LGBTQ record and praised the work of Franklin Graham who has used the legacy of his father to advance extreme anti-LGBTQ messaging including attacking LGBTQ families and claiming that Satan is behind LGBTQ advocacy. * 2.12.18 - The Department of Education officially confirms they will not investigate or take action on any complaints filed by transgender students who are banned from restrooms that match their gender identity. * 1.19.18 - Reporting reveals that Trump administration appointee Carl Higbie had made extreme racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ comments on the radio. He was removed from his White House position but then hired by "America First Policies," a nonprofit created by six of Trump's top campaign aides to back the White House agenda. * 1.18.18 - The Department of Health and Human Services created a new department that shields healthcare workers who refuse to treat LGBTQ patients or those living with HIV by calming moral or religious objections. * 1.16.18 - President Trump promotes anti-LGBTQ religious exemptions in his Religious Freedom Day proclamation. * 12.29.17 - President Trump fires the entire White House Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. * 12.22.17 - President Trump sings the GOP tax bill, which targets low-income and LGBTQ communities, into law. * 12.15.17 - Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at were instructed not to use the “transgender,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based” in official budget documents. * 12.5.17 - White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells reporters that President Trump backs the position that businesses owners should be able to put up signs saying they won’t serve gays. * 12.5.17 - The Department of Justice argues in support of baker who denied service to a gay couple during the Supreme Court oral arguments for the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. * 12.4.17 - President Trump endorses Roy Moore, who has a violently anti-LGBTQ record and multiple well-documented accusations of sexual assault, abuse, and assessment, in the Alabama special Senate Election. * 12.1.17 - President Trump leaves the LGBTQ community and people of color out of his World AIDS Day Proclamation. * 10.17.17 - President Trump delivers the keynote address at the anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation President’s Club annual meeting. * 10.16.17 - In a profile on Vice President Mike Pence that ran in the New Yorker, President Trump reportedly joked of Pence when asked about LGBTQ rights: “Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!” * 10.13.17 - President Trump becomes the first sitting president to speak at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit, a convening of fringe groups united around discrimination against LGBTQ people. * 10.11.17 - The Trump Administration's National Park Services withdrew its sponsorship of New York City's first permanent Pride Flag, located outside of the historic Stonewall Inn, and dropped out of its pre-scheduled participation in the flag dedication ceremony. * 10.6.17 - The Department of Justice issues a sweeping "religious exemptions" guidance which invites taxpayer-funded federal agencies, government employees, and government contractors to legally discriminate against LGBTQ employees as long as they cite a religious belief as the reason for doing it. * 10.6.17 - The Department of Health and Human Services rolls back the Affordable Care Act's birth control benefit, allowing the use of "religious exemptions" to deny health care to women, trans men, and gender non-conforming people who rely on the no-copay contraception benefit. * 10.5.17 - In a Department of Justice memo, the Trump Administration reverses a policy that provided non-discrimination protections for transgender people in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. * 10.3.17 - The Department of Health and Human Services erases all mentions of the LGBTQ community and their health needs in its strategic plan for the fiscal year 2018-2022. * 9.22.17 - The Education Department rescinds the Obama Administration-era Title IX guidance on investigating campus sexual assault; LGBTQ students experience sexual harassment at disproportionately high rates. * 9.8.17 - Reporting reveals the CIA canceled a planned speech about diversity and LGBTQ rights set to be given by Judy and Dennis Shepard, founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. * 9.7.17 - The Justice Department files an amicus brief in support files an amicus brief in support so-called “religious exemptions” to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans. * 9.7.17 - The Education Department announces they will roll back Obama Administration-era Title IX guidelines which protected sexual assault survivors on college and university campuses. * 9.7.17 - President Trump nominates Gregory Katsas, who worked behind the scenes to promote the implementation of the trans military ban and revoke federal guidelines that protect transgender students from discrimination, to the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the Circuit of D.C. * 9.7.17 - President Trump nominates Jeff Mateer, who has an extensive anti-LGBTQ record including calling trans children part of "Satan's plan," to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. * 9.5.17 - President Trump ends the DACA program, which protected an estimated 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, including 36,000 LGBTQ DREAMers, from detention and deportation. * 8.27.17 - Reporting reveals the CIA consulted with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBTQ hate group. * 8.25.17 - President Trump officially directs the Pentagon to move forward with his ban on transgender service members openly serving in the U.S. Military. The discriminatory policy is due to take effect take effect March 23, 2018. * 8.25.17 - President Trump pardons former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a criminal known for terrorizing the Latinx community with inmate abuses, unjustified arrests, and racial profiling. * 8.12.17 - President Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who chanted violently racist and anti-LGBTQ slogans during a rally in Charlottesville, VA. * 8.3.17 - President Trump nominates L. Steven Grasz, who has close ties to the anti-LGBTQ group Focus on the Family, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. * 7.26.17 - An official White House webpage directs readers to an article published by the anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation that calls being transgender a "psychological disorder." * 7.26.17 - The Justice Department files a brief opposing workplace nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the case Zarda v. Altitude Express. * 7.26.17 - President Trump bans transgender servicemembers from serving in "any capacity" in the U.S. military, threatening to fire 15,000 currently serving troops over Twitter. * 7.25.17 - Reporting reveals Vice President Mike Pence advocated for the removal of healthcare benefits for transgender servicemembers within the U.S. military behind closed doors. * 7.13.17 - President Trump nominates Mark Norris, who supported legislation that allowed mental health counselors to discriminate against LGBTQ clients during his time as a TN state senator, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. * 7.12.17 – President Trump grants a one-on-one interview with Pat Robertson, a longtime anti-LGBTQ activist and Televangelist. * 7.10.17 – In a closed-door and unannounced opportunity, President Trump poses for a photograph with notorious anti-LGBTQ activists who wish to promote so-called “religious exemptions” that would harm LGBTQ Americans across the nation. * 6.29.17 - Reports revealed President Trump hired anti-transgender activist, Bethany Kozma, to the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Rights at the US Agency for International Development. * 6.28.17 - The Department of Justice ejected reporters covering a DOJ Pride event hosted by LGBTQ affinity groups for federal workers. * 6.27.17 - The Trump Administration failed to mention the LGBTQ community in their National HIV Testing Day statement. * 6.21.17 - Reporting reveals President Trump hired a lawyer who openly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin's anti-LGBTQ law banning so-called "gay propaganda" from Russia, a law that Europe’s top human rights court found to be illegal. * 6.17.17 - Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resigned saying that President Trump "simply does not care" about combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. * 6.16.17 - An obtained internal memo from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights reveals guidelines to dismiss complaints about bathroom access filed by transgender students. * 6.15.17 - Department of Commerce removes sexual orientation and gender identity from the agency's Equal Employment Policy; LGBTQ protections have been explicitly included since 2010. Only after fierce opposition did Department of Commerce Secretary Ross change it back. * 6.15.17 - The Department of Education invites Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, two anti-LGBTQ organizations, to be speakers for a day-long conference on engaging fathers in their children’s education and welfare. * 6.15.17 - The Department of Education rolls back the Office for Civil Rights' expansive approach to investigating civil rights complaints that to protect LGBTQ students, and other marginalized communities, from discrimination at school. * 6.7.17 - President Trump nominates Stephen S. Schwartz, who worked with North Carolina legislators in support of the anti-trans legislation HB2, to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. * 6.1.17 - President Trump declines to issue a presidential proclamation designating June as LGBTQ Pride Month, breaking with an eight-year precedent set by President Barack Obama to honor and support LGBTQ Americans during Pride Month. * 5.23.17 - The Trump Administration reveals their budget which includes proposed slashes to programs and departments critical to the LGBTQ community, including Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Disease Control’s HIV and AIDS programs. * 5.22.17 - The Trump Administration grants White House press credentials to a "reporter" from Infowars, a conspiracy outlet that regularly peddles dangerous, offensive and anti-LGBTQ content. * 5.8.17 - Department of Agriculture issues new so-called "religious freedom" policy statement, a move praised by the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council. * 5.4.17 - President Trump signs a "religious liberty" executive order. Although this EO does not target LGBTQ Americans, it is the first step in what could be a more broader permission slip for discrimination against the overall LGBTQ community. * 4.14.17 - The Trump Administration files to dismiss a lawsuit accusing North Carolina of discriminating against the LGBTQ community in response to HB2, despite the similarities of the HB142 replacement. * 4.10.17: A ProPublica investigation reveals the Trump Administration appointed James Renne, a key staffer involved in the Bush-era anti-LGBTQ purge of gay government employees, to a senior role at the Department of Agriculture. * 3.28.17: The Trump Administration cancels plans to add the LGBTQ community to its upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, a survey conducted every decade by the federal government to help collect data about living Americans and the United States of America. * 3.28.17: Under his proposed budget for the U.S. Congress, The Trump Administration offered to cut HIV and AIDS research funding under the National Institutes of Health (NIH). * 3.24.17: President Trump appointed anti-LGBTQ activist and former Heritage Foundation employee Roger Severino to lead the Health and Human Services Civil Rights Office, putting the LGBTQ community at risk of losing access to critical and affordable health care. * 3.20.17: Trump Administration erases the LGBTQ community from The National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants and the Annual Program Performance Report for Centers for Independent Living, key surveys that are used to help provide care to American seniors – including disability, transportation, and caregiver support needs. * 2.22.17 - With help of Attorney General Sessions, President Trump rescinded Title IX protections for transgender students in our nation's schools. * 2.02.17: ABC News reports that after previously committing to protecting LGBTQ Americans from discrimination, President Trump and his administration had drafted a "License to Discriminate" executive order which would usher in across-the-board discrimination against the LGBTQ community. * 1.27.17: President Donald Trump issued an executive order to indefinitely ban Syrian refugees from entering the United States. This ban includes LGBTQ refugees fleeing the nation in fear of discrimination. * 1.20.17: Minutes after Donald Trump was sworn into office, any mention of the LGBTQ community was erased from White House, Department of State, and Department of Labor websites. Prior to Presidency On LGBTQ equality: -- Says: "No, I'm just not in favor of gay marriage. I live in New York. New York is a place with lots of gays, and I think it is great. But I'm not in favor of gay marriage." -- Compared gay people to golfers who use "unattractive" putters: "It's like in golf," he said. "A lot of people-I don't want this to sound trivial-but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive," said Trump. "It's weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can't sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist." -- Says he would "strongly consider" Supreme Court justices who would overturn marriage equality. -- Told Christian Broadcasting Network that evangelicals can "trust me on traditional marriage": "I think they can trust me. They can trust me on traditional marriage. I was very much in favor of having the Court rule that it goes to states and let the states decide. And that was a shocking decision for you and for me and for a lot of other people. But I was very much in favor of letting the states decide...." -- Says he will rescind federal directives that protect transgender people in schools and healthcare. -- Defended people criticizing openly gay football player Michael Sam by saying: "We've become so politically correct in this country that the country is going to hell - people are afraid to talk." -- Vowed to sign and enact the First Amendment Defense Act, a piece of legislation that would allow federal contractors to circumvent protections for LGBTQ workers. -- Spoke at virulently anti-LGBTQ Family Leadership Summit, where he declared himself for "traditional marriage." (*More background on Trump's speech and the anti-LGBTQ activities of the Family Leadership Summit can be found here) Category:Years in LGBT rights